


Mechanical Malfunctions Lead to Use of Organics

by SerpentineFxrtune



Series: The Six [5]
Category: Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Character(s), Alien Culture, Alien biology as in human eyes, Alternate Identities, Canon is taking a backseat in this fic, Implied/Referenced Murder, It's 3am so there's probably a few mistakes but I scarcely care I just want this finally posted.., Major Original Character(s), Minor Character(s), Odette | Gloria Swanhildr and the saga of My Machines Hate Working As Intended, Original Character(s), Other, Shun isn't tagged as a character because I didn't mention him once by name, but from Gloria's perspective, given that the main characters in this are vestal. does that mean that Shun is an alien here?, it was for self-defense given that they were vestal guards though, this is very much connected to Compare and Contrast, treating aliens as toys until proven wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27924514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerpentineFxrtune/pseuds/SerpentineFxrtune
Summary: Gloria's mechanical bakugan history is long and full of frustrations. One tournament, even if her memory blanks on most of it, is all she needs to learn that she doesn't have to rely on them, even if she's scared she'll hurt an organic bakugan in battle.
Series: The Six [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986178
Kudos: 1





	Mechanical Malfunctions Lead to Use of Organics

**Author's Note:**

> The mask thing and Ace's general social status (outside of the Resistance), is inspired by a fic... that I can't find anymore... Darn. Anyhow, Gloria also abides by the mask-aristocrat ruling, which is probably more important.

In vestal culture, masks were common amongst the high ranked and the nobility, for a simple reason: identity. You had to be perfect. An idol for the masses to try and become. It was an alter ego- you could take it off to walk around safely, if you wanted. Of course, some nobles were too shy to show their face anyway, such as Odette.

Well, other people knew her as Odette; to family and close friends, she was Gloria. Gloria’s main problem in life, other than being safeguarded at home by her parents, and relying on her Odette identity to even go outside of the garden boundaries, was that all her attempts to start battling were seemingly always thwarted. Her mechanical bakugan malfunctioned before a battle, no gauntlet, someone else was battling in her stead… It was so annoying! She hadn’t even been able to battle before, and the universe seemingly didn’t want her to at all!

The universe was rude, was what Gloria took away from the whole thing.

Even worse? She had some incredibly close friends who could battle, and did. But she never got the chance! Well... got. She was getting her chance, finally! No longer would she be tied down to not being able to join in due to a faulty mechanical, or some other reason! No lon- Gloria looked down into Brett’s hand.

“Well? What d’ya think? Cute, right?”

“… I don’t want to harm it… That’s why I use mechanicals. What if I hurt them?!”

“Hurt them? Pfft! Gloria, they’re toys—"

“You won’t hurt me, even if I was the toy you believe me to be. I’m alive.” At that, Brett looked down curiously, as did Gloria (albeit she did it with added surprise), at the white ball in his hand. Then, Gloria looked around; no one was there. So, it had to be...

“Did you speak just now?” Gloria quietly asked, causing Brett to try and stifle his oncoming laugh.

“Yes.” The white bakugan opened, revealing a masked face, some sort of mane or plumage, hooved feet, large wings, and clawed hands. Brett stopped laughing, completely taken aback.

“… Who are you?” Gloria tested, taking in the bakugan’s appearance. It was haos; it had a white body, with grey panelling, a purple face, and lavender accents. Was it? Maybe it was a very lightly coloured darkus bakugan? No, but they were black, not purple…

“Engelos. I am devoid of pigment, and therefore devoid of attribute, as are all other white bakugan. Haos bakugan at least have some pigment to them, even if it is only yellow in most cases.”

“I-I see…” Gloria mumbled, taking Engelos from Brett’s open hand. Her brain was struggling to process all of what Engelos had said. Other than the fact that she was calling herself a white bakugan, Gloria was completely lost. “You’re very pretty.”

“You are too, dear.” Engelos swiftly replied, fluttering her wings. Gloria’s pretty sure that the bakugan with the closest wing shape, in ball form at least, is called garganoid… maybe.

“Um… C… Can- Is it ok if you could repeat something to me? I didn’t… I didn’t really understand what you said about attributes earlier…” Gloria sheepishly requested, feeling her cheeks grow warm from embarrassment, fading into a light, grassy hue.

“I have no attribute,” Engelos simply put it, “if I did, I would be pyrus.”

“Oh! Gotcha.” Gloria smiled, blinking slowly as if Engelos was a cat. She didn’t seem to mind.

“Hey, Glo, scan her,” Brett urged, pressing the button on Gloria’s mostly white and pink, but undeniably expensively decorated gauntlet. The white half slid back, revealing a pink board with circuit patterns engraved in.

“Sca- Oh! Right, yes, a scan.” Gloria sighed, finding it stupid that she forgot about the frequented function, gently placing Engelos in the dip of her gauntlet’s second layer. Engelos fluttered her wings confusedly, legs tucked in.

“A scan?”

“It generates your cards, and does something else…” Gloria uttered, looking over at Brett for help. He was very studious about the cultural mythology behind the bakugan, and so he'd probably know. Even if those were separate things.

“It also checks for special variance,” Brett proudly spoke for Gloria. Bless him for knowing his stuff, “we’ll be able to find out if you change attributes, can use attributed cards outside of your attribute, et cetera!”

“… I have pyrus abilities, and can temporarily change to pyrus when I use some of them… will those count as variances? I am not truly pyrus in this albino state, according to many bakugan.”

“It’s not coming up with any variances,” Gloria chirped, "and you're listed as pyrus!"

“Good,” Engelos cheeped, flying off of the gauntlet and gently into Gloria’s cheek. Gloria laughed at the affection, feeling a sort of feathery texture in Engelos’ otherwise plastic ball form.

“Oh! I also found a haos bakugan with lil Engelos~” Brett sang, getting Gloria’s attention. Out of Brett’s pocket came an ingram-shaped bakugan (well… the ball form. Gloria knew a pair of aristocratic twins, about 6, who shared a subterra ingram between them.)

“… What are they?”

“I’m a Guardia!” she mewed. Gloria had seen a ventus one a few tournaments ago, and it was the winning bakugan. Now the ball form made sense; the two upper wing panels were the ear streamers, and the two lower wing panels were the arms! The streamers scared her a little, if only because that Guardia in the tournament had been ruthless. But Brett wasn’t like the hot-headed thing that called itself partners with the ventus bakugan. Brett wasn’t ruthless! If anything, Brett was mildly surprised to find his Guardia even spoke at all... these must've been recent finds. Regardless, he wasn't ruthless—

“I think we should enter a tournament together in doubles! Then we can really see how much damage Guardia can do! She wants to battle quickly anyway, so—”

Well. Gloria was proven wrong, then. Brett was ruthless... or at least impatient and raring to go.

“Hey! Are you even listening?” Brett huffed, patting Gloria on the head, “come on! Let’s go sign up already!” Gloria looked at him sheepishly, and followed him down to the stadium.

* * *

It had been a month since Gloria had met Engelos. It had also been a month since her last mechanical broke down.

“Are you kidding me?!” Gloria yelled into her pillow, not even wanting to look at the bakugan that couldn’t leave it's ball form. The scan this morning had proved it; the "full form" mimicing systems weren't functioning. In a sudden fit of anger, Gloria threw a pillow at the mechanical bakugan (a pyrus Nalamia; a fairly common mechanical snake bakugan, with a lizard torso and a masked face. Typically, Nalamia were darkus or subterra, but Gloria had managed to convince the manufacturers for a pyrus one.)

The bakugan fell off the desk and onto the floor with a thud, directly onto plush carpet. Nalamia, in response to the fall, opened, causing the face to light up. Gloria stared annoyedly at the dot of pink, glowing from under the pillow casing. Gloria eventually huffed and turned away from it in a mini tantrum. Blasted mechanical.

Engelos watched the whole ordeal from the silken pillow Gloria had offered her as a bed, internally wondering why vestals bothered with mechanicals if this was how they were. At what point would they realise that mechanical bakugan weren't worth all the hassle? They'd be better off as statues, or perhaps "museum exhibits", whatever those were. Gloria hadn't explained them, yet.

Then, Gloria’s “get ready to go outside (at all) today” alarm rang. That, too, was smacked with a pillow until it stopped ringing incessantly. The room was a mess, and Gloria herself matched. Getting up, Gloria didn't even notice Engelos holding a comb in her hooves, brushing her hair out so it could be tied back. The tangles seemed to disappear as Engelos brushed.

“Where’s the—Oh. Oh! Thanks, Engel!”

Engelos laughed at her, and placed the comb down, throwing herself into Gloria’s bag. The bag she always had with her as Odette. She guessed then that it was Odette's bag, and not hers. Gloria slipped her mask on, and snuck out. Her personal maid knew her too well to even mention the missing girl to her parents, merely sighing at poor Nalamia on the floor. Another mechanical that malfunctioned. Ridiculous. And a messy room to be cleaned. At least it was clear that Gloria woke up on the worst side of her bed that morning.

* * *

Down in Alpha’s downtown area, Gloria met up with Brett. Brett and Guardia had easily become rather unbeatable. The only person that came close to beating them had left two weeks ago. A guy with a darkus freezer, a mean attitude, and paraded his status as an “independent” (read; he, a nobleman, left home willingly) like a badge of honour.

Gloria thought he, the noble, was an annoying piece of work.

Brett had also made Gloria his go-to partner for doubles, even if her partners were constantly changing, depending on what was actually working that day, and wasn’t that great as a brawler. Brett didn’t mind. Gloria wished she didn’t need to be carried so much, though.

“I saw the guy from two months ago.” Brett said in a hushed voice as they went to the stadium, “I’m hoping he’s not gonna get in trouble; I kinda wanna know what he uses.”

“Oh, did he sign up earlier, or something?” Gloria wondered, recalling the previous months. A thief, a rogue, whatever you wanted to call them, was running around Alpha, generally stealing bakugan and supplies such as food. A few guards had gone missing when trying to apprehend the criminal, and only one guard came back; they'd mentioned something about horrifying eyes that didn't reflect light at all. If you did shine a light at them, then their pupils would go red! Gloria hoped it wasn't true.

“Yeah, and Prick was with him.” Brett laughed.

Gloria felt anxiety creep up her spine. This couldn’t be good. That could mean the rogue was an employed assassin who’d been forced to brawl (or chose to do so) alongside Prick. That implied the guards were forever missing. She shuddered.

Entering the waiting room, Gloria found her locker quickly, stashing her bag away. Then she took in her surroundings. There were the Dark Angels, Annie and Vanessa. She couldn’t tell them apart all that well, but they were very good at dealing with creeps that the other girls couldn’t (read; they punched them. In the nose usually, but Vanessa, Gloria’s quite sure that’s the pink haired one, sometimes went bellow the belt, at full power), then there were a few more, and… oh, damn the stars above, Brett was right.

Gloria bristled at the sight. She recognised that hair colour anywhere, and the jacket’s stupid long sleeves… well, they did look fun to swish around in, but that was besides the point! They looked stupid!! And the person they were attached to was beyond aggravating!

“G… Odette? You having fun looking angry?”

“Oh- sorry, got distracted.” Gloria apologised, looking sheepish behind her mask, ignoring Brett's slip-up. By all accounts, he could well have been saying anything else, anyway.

“Look, I don’t like him either, but at least act like you’re neutral?”

Prick’s partner, dressed in black with his head covered by a green scarf, snickered. He'd been listening to their conversation, which was impressive to Gloria. Prick snarled at him to stop what he was doing. While Gloria had no idea what to nickname Prick’s partner yet, he didn’t even look like he’d comfortably be here. Gloria quietly wondered if trained muscles would be better in a hug than untrained ones… He looked like he’d give good hugs, if not emotionally distant ones. They'd be cosy. He doesn't currently look cosy.

What was Gloria even thinking?

“Ugh. Those two are known in town. Just hope we don’t have to fight them; two of few people who can beat me.”

“It’s _not_ that hard to beat you, Ace.”

“Shut up!” Oh. _That’s_ what his name was. Oh! Right, he was to be a duke once he got old enough, if Gloria recalled correctly. Didn’t like the prince at all, and so left when he still could. She couldn’t blame him.

Within the tournament, the first few battles had passed by easily. The second to last battle forced Gloria to sacrifice Engelos for them to win, and then came their final battle, before the vexos could be fought.

Gloria could hear Brett sigh. She could see Pri—Ace sighing too. Neither of them wanted to see each other, but this fight felt inevitable. Had Ace gotten better, or was he going to win on his partner's account? 

“Good luck, Guardia.” Engelos cheeped, knocking her shut ball form against Guardia’s.

“You too, Engel!!”

Then Gloria zoned out for a lot of the battle. Bad, genuinely terrible habit. Forcing herself back in, Gloria checked her gauntlet. 20% opponent life, 30% ally life. It wasn’t going smoothly for either side, clearly.

“Odette.” Engelos chirped softly. Right. Middle of a battle. Ok.

“Sorry. Go, Nebula Pulse!” Gloria ordered, aiming her arm roughly towards Ingram’s side of the field. Engelos’ body turned a deep red hue upon activation, widening her stance for balance, for the sake of releasing energy efficiently. Ingram dropped prematurely to the ground, bracing for the burst that would’ve sent him flying, if not for being on the ground.

But that was fine. Guardia leapt forwards at the grounded bird, and slashed her claws down, narrowly missing the poor avian. Guardia’s streamer gems caught on Ingram’s shin as he moved back. Guardia huffed and retreated a fair distance, keeping an eye on Ingram as his leg healed. Only -10 to his Gs. Not great.

“We need Percival out of the picture.” Brett muttered quietly. Gloria nodded, and whispered her apology into the last card she’d play for the battle.

Gloria took a deep breath to calm herself. It’d be up to Brett to win after this, “Ability, activate! Void Échappé!”

Lowering her arm, Gloria kneeled down in wait for Engelos’ ball form to fall to her. Engelos flew up, and charged Percival, hooves in front of her for impact, shoving the both of them skidding painfully across the dusty floor of the arena. How the bakugan pushed something maybe 5 times her size over, Gloria didn't know. Neither did the announcers, who both immediately called attention to the feat.

It was probably down to Engelos putting force into it using her wings. Gloria watched Engelos come to her knees, watching Ace growl in annoyance at the sight before him, picking up Percival with a fond gentleness. Perhaps he liked Percival, more than just a toy. Did Ace know he wasn’t a toy, but a living being?

“Nyeheh! Just you and me now, snack!” Guardia chirped, recalibrating her targeting. She needed to pounce straight at him, no awkward angles…

“I don’t care how pretty I am; please do not call me a snack, especially in this context!” Ingram yelled back in terror. Fighting a feline wasn’t helping his nerves at all. Luckily for him, this fear wasn’t going to come to fruition. Consistently dodging Guardia’s leaps and bounds worked a treat, but, hey, the battle has to end.

“Ability, activate! Shadow Split!”

Gloria always thought his eyes looked a little creepy. She’d seen amber with bugs trapped inside from long ago, but this wasn’t the same sort of creepy feeling. Did pupils that black truly have the ability to go red?

Her thoughts on him didn’t matter much more, as Guardia reeled at the attack, and was sent to the opposition’s side. Gloria gasped. There’d been a 500g deficit. Brett had lost Guardia. Brett blinked, clicking his tongue.

“Brett?” Gloria half expected him to sink to his knees, but no. He stood tall and unwavering. Gloria wished she had that level of confidence.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get her back.” He stated with certainty, not taking his eyes off their victorious opponents.

“I should’ve healed her up first,” Gloria sighed, “but it was fun, right?”

“Obviously. Now, let’s go get Guardia!” Brett turned to see her, a grin plastered onto his face.

“Mhm!”

Gloria, while watching Brett haggle Guardia back, had a thought. Maybe, just maybe, mechanicals were junkyard scrap that she could safely stop ordering- Engelos was a very good brawler, and didn't get hurt enough to worry Gloria, so why replace her? Nalamia would be, and will always be, her last mechanical bakugan, Gloria decided.


End file.
